In-house Counsel Expectations from External Counsel
Patrick Callinan, Associate General Counsel at Sprout Social, joined our latest live Platforum9 session to unpack how in-house teams are changing the way they engage external counsel—what they’ll pay for, what they won’t, and what “great service” looks like when budgets, speed, and regulatory complexity collide. What’s changed: in-house teams are doing more (and asking […]
How Do Law Firm Mergers Affect Client Relationships?
Jonathan Selvadoray (Founder, Zaven) joined this live session to unpack what law firm mergers really mean for clients as consolidation accelerates across major legal markets—covering the immediate risk checks, the likely impact on client relationships, and the commercial realities that often sit behind the press release. The Big Idea Selvadoray’s central point was blunt: mergers […]
Conflict of Interest and Hardening the Soft Law: Where Now?
Velimir Zivkovic moderated a discussion with independent arbitrator Knud Jacob Knudsen of Knudsen Arbitration, alongside contributions from Matej Pustay, Niamh Leinwather, and audience members, on a question that arbitration practitioners keep circling back to – the issue of conflicts of interest. The immediate catalyst was a Norwegian Supreme Court decision—discussed as having been handed down […]
Imposter Syndrome in Law – How to spot it and what to do about it?
Kara Irwin (lawyer and qualified executive coach) and Jaimie Sarah (executive coach and fractional CMO) moderated a Platforum9 session with guest Charmian Johnson (former global law firm partner and somatic trauma-informed coach) that reframed imposter syndrome from a purely personal confidence issue into a practical performance and leadership challenge in legal teams—showing up in preparation […]
The Top 3 Skills Missing from Law Firm Leaders
Opening the session, James Markham, an accountant by training and management consultant with 15+ years advising and working inside UK law firms, shared his practical observations from senior management roles and consulting work on a perennial question for law firms: which capabilities are most often missing when lawyers step into leadership roles, and what firms […]
The Reality Check on Legal AI Adoption in ’25 and What’s next in ’26
2025 was the year legal AI moved from “pilot theatre” to everyday usage — but not in the way many predicted. Our Moderator Horace Wu observed that adoption has become broad but shallow: lots of firms using generative AI in some form, but comparatively few changing how legal work is truly delivered. 2025: What we […]
‘Who cares as long as we win?’ – Ethics in International Arbitration
This highly relevant session was moderated by Velimir Zivkovic, Niamh Leinwather (VIAC), alongside Michail Risvas, and Miljana Bigovic, who guided the conversation, drew out audience perspectives, and pressure-tested how ethical “red lines” shift across legal cultures and institutional settings. They tackled the uncomfortable truth behind the title question: advocacy in arbitration is meant to be […]
How to Make Your End of Year Client Interaction More Efficient for BD
In moderating the session, Karolina Silingiene, Co-Founder at Crespect, challenged the familiar end-of-year routine of wine, chocolates and Christmas cards. Her point was simple: clients don’t need another gift — they need to feel heard and properly understood. Silingiene repositioned December as something far more useful than a frantic selling season: a strategic moment to […]
How Will AI Impact Your Business Model?
Artificial intelligence continues to unsettle, energise, and reshape the legal sector. In this session, Platforum9 brought together two perspectives: James Markham, director and founder of The Legal MBA, whose work focuses on commercial skills and business models in law, and Kurt-Magnar Aanestad , a legal tech entrepreneur observing the industry shift from the vendor side. […]
The Power of Coaching for Lawyers
In this inaugural Platforum9 Coaching Forum session, Kara Irwin, lawyer and qualified coach, and Stephen Hopkins, former law firm leader and now professional coach to the legal profession, explored why coaching is becoming indispensable for lawyers and legal teams. They were joined by fellow moderator Ron Given, a lawyer and executive coach. The conversation traced […]